ECONOMY LIMITING OBAMA'S BIN LADEN BUMP – AT 9:47 P.M. ET:  The polls we've seen show that the president did get a post-raid bump, but that economic reality is limiting the bump's size and tenure.  From MSNBC:

WASHINGTON — In the days after Barack Obama ordered the successful mission to kill Osama bin Laden, the president’s approval rating on foreign policy issues reached an all-time high, even as public opinion regarding his handling of the economy sunk to the lowest point of his administration, according to a new NBC News poll.

The survey shows a mixed picture for Obama, whose overall job-approval rating was bumped higher by a modest three points after the al-Qaida leader’s death was announced late Sunday.

What has changed for the president since the raid at bin Laden’s compound: The number of respondents seeing Obama as a strong leader and a good commander in chief has spiked, and public opion for his handling of the war in Afghanistan jumped to an all-time high.

But here’s what hasn’t changed: Just a third of Americans believe the country is headed in the right direction; less than four in 10 approve of Obama’s handling of the U.S. economy; and nearly 70 percent think the economy will get worse or stay the same in the next year.

COMMENT:  The problem for the president is that there aren't any other targets of bin Laden's stature out there, whereas there are plenty of chances for the economy to go into a number of ditches.  (A report today, for example, said that housing values are continuing their dive, and that almost 30% of American homeowners are underwater – that is, their homes are worth less than what they must pay out on their mortgages.) 

The election, if current trends continue, will be fought mainly about the economy, unless a huge foreign crisis intervenes.  The president is vulnerable on the economy, but the GOP isn't off the hook.  It is often seen as too cozy with big business and obsessed with keeping down tax rates on the comfortable.  The Republicans must come up with an imaginative plan to rescue the economy, and it must be a fair plan.  Otherwise, they will squander the opportunity they're being given.

May 9, 2011